The Heard Eye – “Plenty Love”

The Heard Eye – “Plenty Love” – Single Review

It’s always hard to know what you’re in-store for when you push play on a brand-new single or album.  Over the years of doing what I do here at sleepingbagstudios, I feel like I’ve pretty much mastered the art of a really good guess, but I’m far from immune at getting it wrong when it comes to what’s coming back through my speakers.  Whatever it was that I thought I’d be listening to when clicking on “Plenty Love” by The Heard Eye, I’ll fully admit, this wasn’t it!  This plays a whole lot differently than I thought it would…and that’s cool with me – I genuinely like to be surprised by music whenever that’s possible.

For better or worse too, mind you.  Sure, it’s nice to be surprised by something great, but even when that’s not the case, I still dig it, because let’s be real here…anything is better than predictable, right?  I get the impression from reading about The Heard Eye and having a listen to this shiny new single here, that this band is quite likely anything but predictable when it comes right down to it.  I heard the wild textures and tones of the guitar as “Plenty Love” started up, and what can I say – that’s the kind of stuff that gets my attention on a sonic level.  It’s like…you know how some folks can’t stand the specific sound of certain words like ‘moist’ or ‘secretions’ & such?  I have the opposite reaction when I hear the right kind of guitar tones and frequencies & such…it’s like I wanna stretch out and glue my whole ear to the speaker so that I can be the ONLY one that gets to absorb the sweet, sweet sound.  Alright, I’m clearly getting weird with it today…but you get what I mean – within mere seconds of starting up “Plenty Love,” the band gives you a solid reason to keep listening through what guitarist Hannes De Kassian adds to the gateway in.  Everything else seems pretty legit and in-line when it comes to what you’d wanna hear in the rhythm guitar from Paul Schneider & the drums of Atma Anur.  The bass lines from Greg Dunn all fit the bill, and you’ll even find a keyboard solo (which I think is credited to Chris Studer) that’s super cool to listen to as well.  My old man is a keyboard player for a Prog-Rock band in Canada called Prism, and what you’ll hear in “Plenty Love” reminded me of the kinds of sounds he loves to use in the music they make too.  Good times.  There’s always a comparison to be found somewhere if you look.

Speaking of – what the heck does “Plenty Love” sound like?  Great question!  And it’s not as easy of an answer as you might think.  It’s definitely a hybrid tune of sorts, but I think that’s ultimately going to work to their advantage when it comes to the potential reach of a song like this.  The fundamentals at the core of “Plenty Love” would be completely comparable to something like The Rolling Stones if I’m being entirely honest with ya…like, if you were to look at their songs and this one on paper, your Venn diagram would probably overlap a hell of a lot more than you might think at first.  Where The Heard Eye seem to make the most identifiable distinctions is their own significant twist on the sound, which is like Pop that was left out in the sun to melt, producing this unique Psychedelic twinge that puts real color into this whole tune.  Vocally, even though Paul sounds very much like he’s approaching “Plenty Love” with a Jagger-esque approach, it’s also filtered through Schneider’s own perspective, tone and sound, which seems to create a chasm of differences between the two singers almost despite their similarities.

It all works well though…I’m not hearing any real major concerns here, and every player in the band seems to hold their own with confidence.  I think they’ve got seriously tangible hooks in the music that will have people immediately reacting in favor of this tune, like I did – but they’ve also got others through the vocals, where the uniqueness of Paul becomes a real asset, and the chorus stands a good chance of being memorable over time.  I might tell you that it’s not exactly in lockstep with what’s out there at the moment on the charts or in the clubs to a degree, but I’d also tell you that it’s not all that far removed either.  The right bar and the right person with control of the music…I could see it as a possibility that you could hear a song like this out there somewhere, even if it’s not in a mainstream type of way.  Message-wise…as in lyrically…I think that’s where the band will score a more universal nod of approval from the people out there listening.  You’ve gotta appreciate the positivity at the core of this tune & how “Plenty Love” points out how much MORE love we could have out there in the world today if we all put some damn effort into it.  At least some of it.  Schneider masks a fair bit of the words through his stylistic performance, intentionally by design I’m sure…but the parts you can make out clearly have “Plenty Love” sliding its way into the fun side of sound with something very real to say.

Find out more about The Heard Eye from their official website at:  https://theheardeye.com

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